Switzerland is a federation made up by different localities known as cantons. Switzerland has four language regions: German, French, Italian and Romansh. Source: 2015 Census. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Quality, precision, uniqueness, reliability, tradition, design, innovation … these are just a few of the words that sum up the Swiss watchmaking industry – an industry which manages to produce timepieces that are diminutive yet highly complex, traditional yet state-of-the art. However, the English language is spoken by many Swiss people. Switzerland pursues an active foreign policy. With an overall score of 61.77 points, English speakers in Switzerland were classified as having “high … In Switzerland, “English is widely used in academia, administration and the big corporations” and there is growing support for the country to adopt English as the fifth official language. I would definitely add a country that should be among the top in this list. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Children are required to learn the English language in school before they are given the option to learn a third language. The Benefits of the English Language for Individuals and Societies: Quantitative Indicators from Cameroon, Nigeria, Rwanda, Bangladesh and Pakistan, Human Capital in Poland in 2014, figure 15,52. English poses a new threat to Switzerland’s long-standing multilingualism. Tourists should be able to get by fine with just English. Grin and Korth found that Swiss public opinion, “while overwhelmingly in favor of developing access to English for all children in the education system, is torn over the position that national languages should have in the curriculum: should it be given more or less importance than English, or should they be on par?”[18] These findings show a society leaning towards English, foreshadowing a future where the use of English could surpass that of Switzerland’s official languages. Source: Data from the 2011 census for England and Wales. At least seventy percent of the people in Sweden speak English very well and there is a slight debate as to whether English should even be considered a foreign language in that country. 63.71% is what the cited source, From mid-2009 to late 2013 this entry overstated the number of native speakers by roughly 100fold, and inflated the number of total speakers, on the alleged basis of material in. Only 11.8% of French and Italian speaking Swiss reach the advanced levels of C1 or C2 in German. Switzerland is a Christian country. 7. This way the learning begins even before the children start school. “Multilingualism in Switzerland, Belgium and Luxembourg.” Geolinguistics 30 (2004): 86. The majority of the locals that speak English were born after World War II, when American influence was high through the arts, culture, and trade. Copyright © Le News Sàrl 2014-2020 / Company number: CH-550.1.129.786-5 / VAT number: CHE-193.843.357 TVA. Education policy is similarly guided by the principle of linguistic territoriality in that the language of instruction is determined by the cantons. This list may be sorted by column by clicking on the column header. A guide to what's happening in the Lake Geneva region and beyond. In other words, no, the numbers will not automatically add up.